2000 Years of Small-Scale Mining in the Southern Atacama Desert

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The southern Atacama Desert boasts a long mining history that evolved within small-scale kinship groups. In the Cachiyuyo de Llampos mountains, most mines were consistently exploited sporadically over time, resulting in a settlement pattern characterized by scattered mining camps from the Formative period up to the 20th century. Despite the arrival of the Inca Empire and later, the Spanish, local miners continued to exploit the same territory using a decentralized approach, maintaining a remarkably similar spatial usage pattern even when faced with changes in architectural style.

Significant changes to craft production occurred after the Spanish arrival. Bead-making activities involving copper ores and pigment production experienced a radical decline and likely disappeared. They were replaced by gold and copper mining. Nevertheless, indigenous people remained actively engaged in mining activities, and the social organization modes of miners endured over time.

In this presentation, we present a narrative of continuity and change within small-scale mining spanning centuries, offering a preliminary approach to understanding the long-term dynamics of this mode of production.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39174.0